Is Banning Student-Athletes from Social Media the Right Answer?

     My first blog on athletes and social media covered professional athletes and the pros and cons of social media.  It showed where social media via Twitter and Facebook presented positive things about athletics.  However, it also illustrated the negative that comes along with social media and athletes.  A growing concern today is student-athletes (college and high school) and their involvement with social media.  Whether banning (or limiting) student athletes' involvement with social media is a potential violation of their First Amendment rights.

     There have been several approaches to banning student-athlete's usage of social media thus far, some successful and others less successful.  Many schools have taken a variety of approaches to address student-athletes' improper use of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.  Some limit their usage during the sports season, arguing that such is necessary to ensure their focus upon the season at hand.  Others have implement various usage rules and have enacted monitoring systems to enforce those rules.  Then there are those that have banned the usage of Facebook and Twitter by student-athletes altogether. 

     The first amendment to the United States Constitution grants five rights, including the freedom of speech.  Freedom of speech is a fundamental personal right that is protected against state action under the Fourteenth Amendment.  As such, in order for a First Amendment violation to exist, a government actor must be infringing upon someone's freedom of speech.  Therefore, this means that from a constitutional standpoint, public state universities (and not private universities) could be potentially found liable for infringing upon student athletes' First Amendment rights.  Furthermore, this analysis should cause some concern for athletics departments in public universities who have instituted outright bans of social mediaa usage by their their student athletes.  In fact, if the athletics departments have banned social media usage without having in place a contract with the student-athlete waiving their rights to use social media, there is a strong likelihood that their social media policy is unconstitutional.

     Well, if the usage of social media in ways that are deemed negative towards the university or athletics departments are not illegal, many certainly consider it immoral.  Schools who do not have their students waive their rights of using social media, should at a minimum create guidelines for the use.  A contract stating what is appropriate usage and what is inappropriate use can be vetted by both the athletics department and the student union.  This will ensure freedom of speech rights are maintained, while the integrity of the school is also upheld.  I can only imagine how things would have been when I was a student athlete if we had Facebook and Twitter.  No doubt it would have been a distraction from all levels--from the athletics department, to the coaches, and certainly to all the players.  Many argue that all technology is good; and where that may in fact be the case, I'm still an advocate for saying there is always a time to use new technology, and certainly a time in which we should not.  The below link is an article, advocating the student's freedom of speech, to include usage of Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.fieldhousemedia.net/banning-student-athletes-from-twitter-is-not-the-right-strategy/

by Melvin Pitt